"Creating 18mm figures using a 3D printer?" Topic

Having checked all the maunfacturers i can think of (and using manxman directory) there doesnt appear to be anyone (except Minifigs) who makes a suitable figure to represent the 2nd Silesian Landwehr (litweka and British Stovepipe Shako) as they were at Waterloo.

I have the option to convert existing figures, but wondered about 3D printing.

I know nothing about 3D printing, but how easy is it to make an 18mm figure (so matches AB figures and quality).
Does anyone know a company that does this?

I'd do the head swaps.

At that scale, could you not just get suitable figures in the familiar Landwehr get-up (litewka and feldmutze), choose those with the bulkiest hats, get a smallish pair of pliers and carefully squeeze the hat – working around the hat gently, bit-by-bit, in a circle – until it is of the desired height, then carefully pare it into a cylinder of the desired size.
It should take about ten minutes for each figure.

You could also use a curved blade nail clipper to clip off the top part of the cap that sticks out. Then use modelling putty to build up the top part of the hat.

I take jeweller's files to figure in a heartbeat, hats are the easy part

And why you don't order manufacturers to produce such figures?
I understand, that you practically want only one troops pose without command?

Hey, Sho Boki, do you do that kind of work?

""*[//]) {>::::

(As our comrade Armand would add, "Amicalement"!)

Well, you could always try asking me nicely. I still have all the original Landwehr sculpts, and changing the heads is not a big job. The problem, as always with such wishes for slightly unusual uniforms, is whether you want enough to make the production process economic.

Only that kind of work I do lately, Robert. All my last sets are ordered to sculpt and produce. Like I now do Early Austrian Jägers and Guard Lithuanian Tartars.
boki.ee/6SHOP/SCULPT/Offer.htm

Yes, Sho Boki, I knew you made particular figures on request, but didn't know that you specialised quite as much as the Link shows; liked the forthright way in which 1815 is given as the Terminus Ante Quem.
Over the last few years, and only partly because of scarcity of appropriate figures, I've devoted much time and ingenuity to conversions of standard castings, sometimes more intricate than others. Good Luck.

Anthony Barton. Pretty please nicely, would you consider making some Prussian Landwehr with british shako.
I would only be looking at 3 x 32 figure battalions, but as no one else manufactures I am sure others world wide would be interested.

Thank you in anticipation.

I have very little knowledge on how figures are sculptured and produced, but would it reduce costs if they could be made without heads fitted but then make several different variants. I know Perry's do for some of their 28mm range but wonder if 18mm are too small?

I will add your request to my list , which is stuck on the wall by my bench…no absolute promises, but I shall see what can be done. I keep adding odd units to most ranges, as and when I have time and energy.
In the smaller scales separate heads are really rather tricky, no so much to make, but to make in a way that those with ten thumbs can handle when they try to assemble them.I know many don't mind assembling figures, but a larger number of customers would refuse to buy anything they have to assemble.
So as far as I know it's not been done yet, and I don't propose to start. It's much easier to produce, handle and sell whole figures, because its less bother, and therefore less time consuming, at each stage of production.

Thank you Anthony.

The old Heritage/Custom Cast/ Der Kriegspielers in 15mm actually had figures for Reserve infantry that wore this headgear but not in litewkas.

It certainly can be done by 3d printing, but you need a digital sculptor that can do work that is on a par with Anthony's, which won't be cheap if it can be found. Given that the master himself has weighed in I guess that approach is pretty redundant now anyway.

Campaign Game Miniatures are also looking to create this model so yes, a 3D model is redundant now.
I shall just wait for them to be available.